Wall Street Opinion Journal Debra Burlingame December 6, 2006
Grievance theater at Minneapolis International Airport.
Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Those are the words that started it all. Six bearded imams are said to have shouted them out while offering evening prayers as they and 141 other passengers waited at the gate for their flight out of Minneapolis International Airport. It was three days before Thanksgiving. Allahu Akbar: God is great.
National Review Online Bat Yeor December 4, 2006
Comparing the Muslim and Christian conceptions of God.
With the passing of time, hidden challenges, which for a long time had been growing unnoticed and unaddressed, can suddenly emerge into the full-blown light of current events with a force which seems quite overwhelming. Today the Western world, or Judeo-Christian civilization, shaken by jihadist terror, is being rudely awakened to theological realities blurred for decades. From clashes of civilizations to the jihad that is declaring to the planet its genocidal intentions, rational discourse concerning faith is becoming increasingly fraught.
LA Times Raymond Ibrahim December 5, 2006
What they capture, they keep. When they lose, they complain to the U.N.
IN THE DAYS before Pope Benedict XVI’s visit last Thursday to the Hagia Sophia complex in Istanbul, Muslims and Turks expressed fear, apprehension and rage. “The risk,” according to Turkey’s independent newspaper Vatan, “is that Benedict will send Turkey’s Muslims and much of the Islamic world into paroxysms of fury if there is any perception that the pope is trying to re-appropriate a Christian center that fell to Muslims.” Apparently making the sign of the cross or any other gesture of Christian worship in Hagia Sophia constitutes such a sacrilege.
Wall Street Opinion Journal Victor Davis Hanson November 29, 2006
A civilization that has lost confidence in itself cannot confront the Islamists.
Our current crisis is not yet a catastrophe, but a real loss of confidence of the spirit. The hard-won effort of the Western Enlightenment of some 2,500 years that, along with Judeo-Christian benevolence, is the foundation of our material progress, common decency, and scientific excellence, is at risk in this new millennium.
National Catholic Reporter John L. Allen Jr. November 24, 2006
When Pope Benedict XVI travels to Turkey Nov. 28-Dec. 1, he faces a series of challenges that, like concentric circles, become larger and more daunting as they’re arranged around one another. Coupled with the intense media attention the trip is certain to draw — more than 2,000 journalists are expected to follow the pope on his first visit to a majority Muslim state — these complexities make Turkey the trickiest high-wire act of his pontificate to date.
Benedict is scheduled to make stops in Ankara, Ephesus and Istanbul. Among the conundrums awaiting him:
Religious News Service October 13, 2006
Lead to Call for American Protection of Pope and Ecumenical Patriarch Meeting in Turkey
Yesterday’s reported beheading of an Orthodox Priest and a recent White House omission during a meeting between President George W. Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan increased concerns about protecting the spiritual heads of the two largest Christian denominations, while in Turkey together. Catholicism’s Pope Benedict XVI and Orthodoxy’s Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will be meeting in Turkey in late November. Turkey is the first Muslim country that Pope Benedict will visit. Until the year 1054, the Pope and Ecumenical Patriarch were presiding Patriarchs of the then-undivided Christian Church, in Rome and Constantinople.
Wall Street Journal October 3, 2006
In the September 19 Le Figaro, French philosophy teacher Robert Redeker wrote a 1,140- word op-ed, “In the face of Islamist intimidation, what must the free world do?” The soundbites made news, but his argument got lost in the din. So readers can make up their own minds, we offer a longer excerpt:
Turkish Daily News September 30, 2006
The Greek Orthodox patriarch says Pope Benedict XVI did not intend to offend Muslims with his remarks.
ISTANBUL – Istanbul-based Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartolomeos I called on Christians to respect other religions and said on Thursday he was convinced the pope did not intend to offend Muslims with comments about the Prophet Mohammed.
Townhall.com Patrick J. Buchanan September 19, 2006
To bank the firestorm ignited by his address in Regensburg, Germany, Pope Benedict XVI declared himself “deeply sorry” for the effect his remarks have had on the Muslim world. The words of the Byzantine emperor he quoted, Benedict explained, were “from a Medieval text which do not in any way express my personal thoughts.”
Asia News Samir Khalil Samir, sj September 15, 2006
Muslim criticism against the Pope’s remarks is mounting, but no one has actually read the whole speech. Benedict XVI criticises violence and proposes a reasonable alternative that could lead to a new Golden Age.